


The Fear and the Fire

by Allineedarebooks



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24297850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allineedarebooks/pseuds/Allineedarebooks
Summary: Two people brought together by the horrors of their past, Marita and Walter are no strangers to dark memories and hurt.
Relationships: Marita Covarrubias/Walter Skinner
Kudos: 7





	The Fear and the Fire

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of a crack/rare ship here but I can't get these two out of my head. Some context for this; this is set an undisclosed time after the truth, Marita and Skinner had worked alongside each other numerous times during the series and I felt that our poor Skinman didn't deserve to be alone and lonely. Also, I love Marita Covarrubias so FIGHT ME. 
> 
> Also, the title is from Wasteland Baby! by Hozier because I owe my life and existence to that man.

“Walt?”

Her voice was soft, unguarded. She stood in the doorway of their home office, her face hard set. Something was wrong, he could see her eyes water and her posture was unnaturally stiff. He turned to her, concerned and compassionate. 

“Walt, can you hold me?” Marita uttered, trying so hard to keep her voice from shaking. She balanced from one foot to the other, swaying unconsciously. He opened his arms and she came to sit in his lap, arms wrapping around his neck and buried her head in the crook of his collarbone. He didn’t say anything, that would not help, he simply wrapped his large arms around her small body and held her close to his heart. 

He was no stranger to horror and to the PTSD that came with it. His thoughts took him to Vietnam, and the hell that had brought. The men he had killed, the boy he had slaughtered. He had died in Vietnam, only to be resurrected of sorts when they found him breathing in his body bag. He had seen death, and so had she. A United Nations SRSG, she walked the remains of battlefields and gazed upon the bodies of the fallen. And closer to home, she couldn’t escape the bloodshed that followed the Syndicate. But those memories were not what plagued her now. It was those men, the smoker and all the rest of them, that had caused her this pain. Fort Marlene, white walls, experiments and pain, that’s what she remembered. 

It was an old wound, one that had come open and festered before in his relationship with her. The first time he had had no idea, and the morning after she had cried herself to sleep in his arms she had told him all of it. How they had infected her with the Black Oil over and over again, testing cures and vaccines, each making her wearier and weaker. There were other tests too, she was a human lab-rat, tested on relentlessly. She had shaken in his arms, trembling uncontrollably. Her eyes had gone distant and misty and she didn’t speak. He had held her, brushing her light, soft hair and whispered that he was here with her and that she was safe.

Now, the wound was long since inflicted. She was stronger and was more open with him about her emotions. So much so that, he knew what she was remembering now and knew to let her speak first and to just hold her. 

She had stopped shaking, and she hadn’t cried, not this time. She gradually came back to herself, and wrapped herself tighter around him, looking up at his face. Her eyes were puffy but dry, her face unprotected by her stony mask or makeup. 

“I just didn’t want to be alone.” Is all she said, as she looked into his eyes. Her voice didn’t waver, and he knew the worst of the memories had passed. He loved her at that moment, she was so open with him and she was so beautiful. 

“You’ll never be alone, Marie. Not whilst I’m here.” 


End file.
